TEHRAN -- The spokesman for Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) on Thursday dismissed the U.S. sanctions on the AEOI chief Ali Akbar Salehi as a "desperate" attempt, semi-official Fars news agency reported.

Earlier in the day, U.S. Treasury announced that it has slapped sanctions on the AEOI and its head amid tensions. (Iran-Nuclear)

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BAGHDAD -- The extremist Islamic State (IS) militants kidnapped eight people near a town in Iraq's eastern province of Diyala on Thursday, a local official said.

The incident took place in the evening when the militants set up a fake checkpoint on a main road near the town of Qara-Tappa and kidnapped seven people, including three students, Wasfi al-Timimi, mayor of the town, told Xinhua. (Iraq-IS)

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ADEN, Yemen -- About 63 pro-government Yemeni soldiers were killed in recent fighting with the Houthi rebels near the country's capital Sanaa, a medical official told Xinhua Thursday.

"The ongoing battles with the Houthis since Jan. 10 left around 50 soldiers killed while a Saudi-led airstrike mistakenly killed 13 others," a medical official at the hospital of the government-controlled Marib Province said on condition of anonymity. (Yemen-Sanna-Fighting)

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DAMASCUS -- The Syrian government forces now control over 72.8 percent of the Syrian territory as opposed to 19 percent three years ago, a war monitor said Thursday.

Ahead of the first round of Astana talks on Syria held in early 2017, the army was in control over 19.4 percent of the Syrian territory, and now the number is over 72.8 percent, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. (Syria-Territory-Gov't Fores) Enditem

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